The inauguration was the culmination of eventful weeks in which Mr. Trump disputed the election based on spurious and and unsubstantiated claims. The tension leading to the sombre but spectacular ceremony brought the nation’s capital to partial lockdown with swarm of some 25,000 personnels on duty to provide security. It was a unique inaugural for the nation as Kamala Harris became the first woman to be sworn into the office of the Vice President.
Before Biden took the oath, Justice Sonia Sotomayor administered the oath on Kamala Harris. Pop stars Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez performed before Justice Roberts administered the oath on Biden. The 46th President then seized the moment to rally his fellow Americans in an extraordinary times in the world.
“This is America day, this is democracy day. The triumph of a cause, the cause of democracy,” he declared. “The America story depends on all of us,” he noted and stressed, “we are great people.”
The president while acknowledging the devastating blow COVID-19 has dealt the nation said the, “pandemic has taken more lives than World War II,” and urged his compatriots to rally together to defeat the pandemic. He assured that racial justice will be served under his watch as he vowed to defeat extremism and white supremacy.
He also vowed he would be president for all America and will fight for those who voted for him and those who didn’t. “My whole soul is in this,” he stated, referring to the determination he is bringing to the job. He urged his compatriots to “stop the shouting and lower the temperature. We must meet this moment as the United States of America. We must reject the culture in which facts are manipulated. We must end this uncivil war. In the work ahead of us we need each other.”
To the international community, Biden has this message, “we shall engage our alliances and lead by the power of our example.”
Garth Brooks performed Amazing Grace while 22-year-old American poet laureate Amanda Gorman rendered moving verses bearing on nationhood, race, unity and hope. The Rev Silvester Beaman capped it all up with benediction. On the heals of the inauguration, Biden is expected to hit the ground running as he moves straight to the oval office to sign out of existence via executive orders some odious policies of Donald Trump, including his immigration policy.
